Long answer: Sure, reviews of some of my favorite will make an appearance in the book, but The Best of Little Red Reviewershowcases the book reviews I'm most proud of. I can write a “book review” of any old book. I can tell you about the plot, and if it is fast paced or slow, I can tell you about the characters and if they grow and learn or go on a journey or not, I can tell you if there is a love triangle or humor or cinematic scenes or political intrigue.

But, as we all know, sometimes books are more than books. Sometimes they transport you, or they flip your perceptions upside down, or the character does something absolutely genius, or the writing is so poetically compelling that you struggle to find the words to describe it, or the book feels like a sanctuary, or you have to take an hour or so to come back to yourself after reading it. Sometimes it's a combination of what I happen to be experiencing in my life when I read that particular book that does something, maybe I relate to something character is going through, maybe something hits me way harder than it would hit someone else. Sometimes it's just a damn good book.

Ideally, I'm taking notes for the review while I'm reading. I'm jotting down how I feel in live time, when characters are in mortal danger, or are thrown out an airlock, or something funny happens, or people finally (omg, FINALLY) kiss each other. I always get a kick out of reading these notes later, because maybe I've written down “that person is a jerk!” and five chapters later I realize I'm sympathizing with them and I should have waiting to get to know them a little better before being so judgy. I do that a lot – react to characters in books as if they are real people who are nervous, or shy, or aren't sure if they can trust me or not.

I have favorite books whose reviews didn't make it into this book. They are still my favorite books. But the review I wrote of the book? It might have been a decently written review, but it wasn't good enough to be called my best. It takes a lot of mental energy to write these reviews, more than you'd think. Sometimes I can whip out an amazing review in two hours. Sometimes it takes a week. Sometimes I just want to get a review up so I can move on with my life, so whatever I happen to type up in a few hours, that's what gets posted. As a blogger, I am the most spoiled content creator on Earth, my work never gets rejected!

So no, The Best of Little Red Reviewer is not just a list of my favorite books. It is a showcase for the book reviews I am most proud of. I hope you like them. I hope you use this book to find new-to-you authors because I've made their work look intriguing. No authors or publishers are getting a kickback from this book, the majority of authors featured in the book have no idea who I am, that the book exists, or that they are in it. This book is exactly what my blog is: it is a labor of love. And if you like the reviews? That's a nice bonus too.

About The Author: Andrea, Johnson is the owner and chief reviewer of The Little Red Reviewer blog. She lives in Michigan with her husband surrounded by too many books. She's been actively blogging about speculative fiction since 2010. Her favorite genres include space opera, new weird, low fantasy, and that gorgeous poetic stuff that C.S.E Cooney and Catherynne Valente write (which she finds incredibly hard to categorize). She reads a lot of new stuff, but also gives an extra focus to a lot of older titles too.